Report: Most Vaccines, Medications Safe For Nursing Mothers.

The Wall Street Journal (8/26, A4, Winslow, Subscription Publication) reports that, according to a clinical guidance report by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and published in the September issue of Pediatrics, the majority of vaccines and medications appear to be safe for nursing mothers. Still, breastfeeding women are cautioned against taking certain psychiatric medications, as well as herbal medicines and some painkillers, including oxycodone, hydrocodone and codeine.

MedPage Today (8/26, Phend) reports that the AAP report urges caution “for the small proportion of drugs that are concentrated in human milk, have a long half-life, have known toxicity to mother or child, or expose the infant to relatively high doses or detectable serum concentrations.” Pediatrician Hari Cheryl Sachs, MD, of the Food and Drug Administration, and colleagues suggested that healthcare professionals “look up safety of specific medications on the National Library of Medicine’s peer-reviewed LactMed database online.” “The report also addressed common concerns about antidepressants, anxiolytics, and antipsychotics, many of which show up in low concentrations in breast milk.
Clinically significant levels of drug have been reported in breast milk for bupropion (Wellbutrin), diazepam (Valium), fluoxetine (Prozac), citalopram (Celexa), lithium (Eskalith), lamotrigine (Lamictal), and venlafaxine (Effexor).”